http://www.arcamax.com/poetry/b-1083-1
The Iliad (translated by Samuel Butler)
THE ILIAD OF HOMER
Rendered into English Prose for the use of those who cannot read the
original
by Samuel Butler
BOOK I
The quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles--Achilles withdraws from
the war, and sends his mother Thetis to ask Jove to help the
Trojans--Scene between Jove and Juno on Olympus.
Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought
countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send
hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs
and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day
on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first
fell out with one another.
And which of the gods was it that set them on to quarrel? It was the
son of Jove and Leto; for he was angry with the king and sent a
pestilence upon the host to plague the people, because the son of
Atreus had dishonoured Chryses his priest. Now Chryses had come to the
ships of the Achaeans to free his daughter, and had brought with him a
great ransom: moreover he bore in his hand the sceptre of Apollo
wreathed with a suppliant's wreath, and he besought the Achaeans, but
most of all the two sons of Atreus, who were their chiefs.
"Sons of Atreus," he cried, "and all other Achaeans, may the gods who
dwell in Olympus grant you to sack the city of Priam, and to reach
your homes in safety; but free my daughter, and accept a ransom for
her, in reverence to Apollo, son of Jove."
On this the rest of the Achaeans with one voice were for respecting
the priest and taking the ransom that he offered; but not so
Agamemnon, who spoke fiercely to him and sent him roughly away. "Old
man," said he, "let me not find you tarrying about our ships, nor yet
coming hereafter. Your sceptre of the god and your wreath shall profit
you nothing. I will not free her. She shall grow old in my house at
Argos far from her own home, busying herself with her loom and
visiting my couch; so go, and do not provoke me or it shall be the
worse for you."
The old man feared him and obeyed. Not a word he spoke, but went by
the shore of the sounding sea and prayed apart to King Apollo whom
lovely Leto had borne. "Hear me," he cried, "O god of the silver bow,
that protectest Chryse and holy Cilla and rulest Tenedos with thy
might, hear me oh thou of Sminthe. If I have ever decked your temple
with garlands, or burned your thigh-bones in fat of bulls or goats,
grant my prayer, and let your arrows avenge these my tears upon the
Danaans."
Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down furious
from the summits of Olympus, with his bow and his quiver upon his
shoulder, and the arrows rattled on his back with the rage that
trembled within him. He sat himself down away from the ships with a
face as dark as night, and his silver bow rang death as he shot his
arrow in the midst of them. First he smote their mules and their
hounds, but presently he aimed his shafts at the people themselves,
and all day long the pyres of the dead were burning.
For nine whole days he shot his arrows among the people, but upon the
tenth day Achilles called them in assembly--moved thereto by Juno, who
saw the Achaeans in their death-throes and had compassion upon them.
Then, when they were got together, he rose and spoke among them.
"Son of Atreus," said he, "I deem that we should now turn roving home
if we would escape destruction, for we are being cut down by war and
pestilence at once. Let us ask some priest or prophet, or some reader
of dreams (for dreams, too, are of Jove) who can tell us why Phoebus
Apollo is so angry, and say whether it is for some vow that we have
broken, or hecatomb that we have not offered, and whether he will
accept the savour of lambs and goats without blemish, so as to take
away the plague from us."
With these words he sat down, and Calchas son of Thestor, wisest of
augurs, who knew things past present and to come, rose to speak. He it
was who had guided the Achaeans with their fleet to Ilius, through the
prophesyings with which Phoebus Apollo had inspired him. With all
sincerity and goodwill he addressed them thus:--
"Achilles, loved of heaven, you bid me tell you about the anger of
King Apollo, I will therefore do so; but consider first and swear that
you will stand by me heartily in word and deed, for I know that I
shall offend one who rules the Argives with might, to whom all the
Achaeans are in subjection. A plain man cannot stand against the anger
of a king, who if he swallow his displeasure now, will yet nurse
revenge till he has wreaked it. Consider, therefore, whether or no you
will protect me."
And Achilles answered, "Fear not, but speak as it is borne in upon you
from heaven, for by Apollo, Calchas, to whom you pray, and whose
oracles you reveal to us, not a Danaan at our ships shall lay his hand
upon you, while I yet live to look upon the face of the earth--no, not
though you name Agamemnon himself, who is by far the foremost of the
Achaeans."
Thereon the seer spoke boldly. "The god," he said, "is angry neither
about vow nor hecatomb, but for his priest's sake, whom Agamemnon has
dishonoured, in that he would not free his daughter nor take a ransom
for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon us, and will yet send
others. He will not deliver the Danaans from this pestilence till
Agamemnon has restored the girl without fee or ransom to her father,
and has sent a holy hecatomb to Chryse. Thus we may perhaps appease
him."
With these words he sat down, and Agamemnon rose in anger. His heart
was black with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he scowled on
Calchas and said, "Seer of evil, you never yet prophesied smooth
things concerning me, but have ever loved to foretell that which was
evil. You have brought me neither comfort nor performance; and now you
come seeing among Danaans, and saying that Apollo has plagued us
because I would not take a ransom for this girl, the daughter of
Chryses. I have set my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I
love her better even than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is
alike in form and feature, in understanding and accomplishments. Still
I will give her up if I must, for I would have the people live, not
die; but you must find me a prize instead, or I alone among the
Argives shall be without one. This is not well; for you behold, all of
you, that my prize is to go elsewhither."
And Achilles answered, "Most noble son of Atreus, covetous beyond all
mankind, how shall the Achaeans find you another prize? We have no
common store from which to take one. Those we took from the cities
have been awarded; we cannot disallow the awards that have been made
already. Give this girl, therefore, to the god, and if ever Jove
grants us to sack the city of Troy we will requite you three and
fourfold."
Then Agamemnon said, "Achilles, valiant though you be, you shall not
thus outwit me. You shall not overreach and you shall not persuade me.
Are you to keep your own prize, while I sit tamely under my loss and
give up the girl at your bidding? Let the Achaeans find me a prize in
fair exchange to my liking, or I will come and take your own, or that
of Ajax or of Ulysses; and he to whomsoever I may come shall rue my
coming. But of this we will take thought hereafter; for the present,
let us draw a ship into the sea, and find a crew for her expressly;
let us put a hecatomb on board, and let us send Chryseis also;
further, let some chief man among us be in command, either Ajax, or
Idomeneus, or yourself, son of Peleus, mighty warrior that you are,
that we may offer sacrifice and appease the anger of the god."
Achilles scowled at him and answered, "You are steeped in insolence
and lust of gain. With what heart can any of the Achaeans do your
bidding, either on foray or in open fighting? I came not warring here
for any ill the Trojans had done me. I have no quarrel with them. They
have not raided my cattle nor my horses, nor cut down my harvests on
the rich plains of Phthia; for between me and them there is a great
space, both mountain and sounding sea. We have followed you, Sir
Insolence! for your pleasure, not ours--to gain satisfaction from the
Trojans for your shameless self and for Menelaus. You forget this, and
threaten to rob me of the prize for which I have toiled, and which the
sons of the Achaeans have given me. Never when the Achaeans sack any
rich city of the Trojans do I receive so good a prize as you do,
though it is my hands that do the better part of the fighting. When
the sharing comes, your share is far the largest, and I, forsooth,
must go back to my ships, take what I can get and be thankful, when my
labour of fighting is done. Now, therefore, I shall go back to Phthia;
it will be much better for me to return home with my ships, for I will
not stay here dishonoured to gather gold and substance for you."
And Agamemnon answered, "Fly if you will, I shall make you no prayers
to stay you. I have others here who will do me honour, and above all
Jove, the lord of counsel. There is no king here so hateful to me as
you are, for you are ever quarrelsome and ill- affected. What though
you be brave? Was it not heaven that made you so? Go home, then, with
your ships and comrades to lord it over the Myrmidons. I care neither
for you nor for your anger; and thus will I do: since Phoebus Apollo
is taking Chryseis from me, I shall send her with my ship and my
followers, but I shall come to your tent and take your own prize
Briseis, that you may learn how much stronger I am than you are, and
that another may fear to set himself up as equal or comparable with
me."
The son of Peleus was furious, and his heart within his shaggy breast
was divided whether to draw his sword, push the others aside, and kill
the son of Atreus, or to restrain himself and check his anger. While
he was thus in two minds, and was drawing his mighty sword from its
scabbard, Minerva came down from heaven (for Juno had sent her in the
love she bore to them both), and seized the son of Peleus by his
yellow hair, visible to him alone, for of the others no man could see
her. Achilles turned in amaze, and by the fire that flashed from her
eyes at once knew that she was Minerva. "Why are you here," said he,
"daughter of aegis-bearing Jove? To see the pride of Agamemnon, son of
Atreus? Let me tell you--and it shall surely be--he shall pay for this
insolence with his life."
And Minerva said, "I come from heaven, if you will hear me, to bid you
stay your anger. Juno has sent me, who cares for both of you alike.
Cease, then, this brawling, and do not draw your sword; rail at him if
you will, and your railing will not be vain, for I tell you--and it
shall surely be--that you shall hereafter receive gifts three times as
splendid by reason of this present insult. Hold, therefore, and obey."
"Goddess," answered Achilles, "however angry a man may be, he must do
as you two command him. This will be best, for the gods ever hear the
prayers of him who has obeyed them."
He stayed his hand on the silver hilt of his sword, and thrust it back
into the scabbard as Minerva bade him. Then she went back to Olympus
among the other gods, and to the house of aegis-bearing Jove.
But the son of Peleus again began railing at the son of Atreus, for he
was still in a rage. "Wine-bibber," he cried, "with the face of a dog
and the heart of a hind, you never dare to go out with the host in
fight, nor yet with our chosen men in ambuscade. You shun this as you
do death itself. You had rather go round and rob his prizes from any
man who contradicts you. You devour your people, for you are king over
a feeble folk; otherwise, son of Atreus, henceforward you would insult
no man. Therefore I say, and swear it with a great oath--nay, by this
my sceptre which shalt sprout neither leaf nor shoot, nor bud anew
from the day on which it left its parent stem upon the mountains--for
the axe stripped it of leaf and bark, and now the sons of the Achaeans
bear it as judges and guardians of the decrees of heaven--so surely
and solemnly do I swear that hereafter they shall look fondly for
Achilles and shall not find him. In the day of your distress, when
your men fall dying by the murderous hand of Hector, you shall not
know how to help them, and shall rend your heart with rage for the
hour when you offered insult to the bravest of the Achaeans."
With this the son of Peleus dashed his gold-bestudded sceptre on the
ground and took his seat, while the son of Atreus was beginning
fiercely from his place upon the other side. Then uprose
smooth-tongued Nestor, the facile speaker of the Pylians, and the
words fell from his lips sweeter than honey. Two generations of men
born and bred in Pylos had passed away under his rule, and he was now
reigning over the third. With all sincerity and goodwill, therefore,
he addressed them thus:--
"Of a truth," he said, "a great sorrow has befallen the Achaean land.
Surely Priam with his sons would rejoice, and the Trojans be glad at
heart if they could hear this quarrel between you two, who are so
excellent in fight and counsel. I am older than either of you;
therefore be guided by me. Moreover I have been the familiar friend of
men even greater than you are, and they did not disregard my counsels.
Never again can I behold such men as Pirithous and Dryas shepherd of
his people, or as Caeneus, Exadius, godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus
son of Aegeus, peer of the immortals. These were the mightiest men
ever born upon this earth: mightiest were they, and when they fought
the fiercest tribes of mountain savages they utterly overthrew them. I
came from distant Pylos, and went about among them, for they would
have me come, and I fought as it was in me to do. Not a man now living
could withstand them, but they heard my words, and were persuaded by
them. So be it also with yourselves, for this is the more excellent
way. Therefore, Agamemnon, though you be strong, take not this girl
away, for the sons of the Achaeans have already given her to Achilles;
and you, Achilles, strive not further with the king, for no man who by
the grace of Jove wields a sceptre has like honour with Agamemnon. You
are strong, and have a goddess for your mother; but Agamemnon is
stronger than you, for he has more people under him. Son of Atreus,
check your anger, I implore you; end this quarrel with Achilles, who
in the day of battle is a tower of strength to the Achaeans."
And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, all that you have said is true, but this
fellow must needs become our lord and master: he must be lord of all,
king of all, and captain of all, and this shall hardly be. Granted
that the gods have made him a great warrior, have they also given him
the right to speak with railing?"
Achilles interrupted him. "I should be a mean coward," he cried, "were
I to give in to you in all things. Order other people about, not me,
for I shall obey no longer. Furthermore I say--and lay my saying to
your heart--I shall fight neither you nor any man about this girl, for
those that take were those also that gave. But of all else that is at
my ship you shall carry away nothing by force. Try, that others may
see; if you do, my spear shall be reddened with your blood."